Hi, everybody. We're with Ben and Ben Taliblu. He's the Senior Director of Foundation for

Defense of Democracy's Iran program. We've spoken to him a few times here at Smarter News in

different settings related to Iran because that's where his expertise is. He's also a native Persian

language speaker as well, which I'm sure is a

very valuable tool that everyone wishes that they had at this time, Benham. It's great to see you,

and I'm going to leap in because you're very tight on time considering the environment we're in.

We completely understand. What does every American need to know about the new Supreme Leader of Iran?

It's a pleasure to be with you, Jenna. Really, thank you for being so flexible with time.

It's always great to be with you and your viewers and listeners as well.

Every American needs to know that this is the Middle East, which means often in the short to medium term, things can go from bad to worse.

And that's precisely the rotation we've seen

in the political elite in the Islamic Republic. But just because it's hardening inside doesn't mean

we're losing outside. That's also something Americans need to know. It's basically been

expected for the past few years, at least half a decade, that Hamad, Iran's former supreme leader, Ali Famaday, I should say,

was looking to move his son into the prime position

or was increasingly seeing physical survival of his son,

of his family, of his regime intertwined with familial survival.

And to that end, many did have concerns that Mushabah,

Hamani's second son, would be engineering some kind of a transition.

And right now what we're seeing is that transition has happened.

You have obviously less political elites at the helm than ever before.

You have a national security deep state in charge of that country, even though his position

...